Listener supported, WNYC Studios.

This is The New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker.

Welcome to The New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick.

As Donald Trump carries out a radical plan to slash the federal government to a nub, no matter what the cost or who's going to pay it, his most obvious accomplices are congressional Republicans.

Politicians who, with almost no exceptions, will not dare risk his wrath or risk a

primary challenge. But also notable is the Democratic opposition or the lack thereof. In the House,

minority leader Hakim Jeffries says he won't swing at every pitch from the administration,

as though this were a baseball game.

Chuck Schumer's vote to back the Republican budget in order to avoid a government shutdown

enraged many in the congressional rank and file.

So the Democratic Party now seems paralyzed.

Senator Chris Murphy has emerged as one of the most vehement critics

of what you might call the business-as-usual approach by the Democrats.

Murphy says, we have months, not years, before American democracy is damaged beyond repair.

In other words, if there's an emergency, act like it's an emergency.

I spoke with Senator Chris Murphy last week. Senator, I wonder if we could try to define the crisis that we're in. I'm of

the opinion that the Trump administration is intent on creating a kind of American-style authoritarian situation.

Do you agree with me?

I do.

Long ago, the Republican Party decided that they cared more about power than they did democracy.

That's what January 6 was all about, regardless of who won the election.

They wanted to make sure that their person was in charge. They believe, and have long,

...